NHS: 'NIL POINTS'.

In a recent posting, 'IN PRAISE OF THE NHS' (29/11/12), I extolled the virtues of an efficient visit to two departments of the Nottingham's large medical establishment, known locally as 'The Queen's Med'. As Jimmy Durante would have remarked, "I missed a great opportunity to keep my mouth shut". On the aforementioned occasion, my second call was at the Phlebotomy Dept., where I'm requested to visit every few months for a blood test to check my ferritin (iron) level. Almost every time in the last seven years it has risen. When the results are known, I fulfil a previously arranged appointment for venesection, which entails having 500ml. of blood removed; this may take two/three trips, to keep the 'slow creep' of the ferritin from causing damage, mainly to the liver. Unfortunately, the blood test which I had taken on the 29th. Nov. has not shown up in the system. So what happens should such a test have been a matter of life or death?

The author is sure that he has made the following suggestion previously. Anyone with any Celtic blood in their system appears to be in greater danger of this affliction, known as 'Haemochromatosis'. Although not the case in my own situation, the condition can be associated with 'Diabetes', as was the case with my late brother.

ONLY EFFICIENCY COUNTS.